Rebekah Gundry, PhD, Stokes-Shackelford Professor of Physiology and chair of the UNMC Department of Cellular and Integrative Physiology, has been named to the 31st class of fellows in the Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine® (ELAM) program at Drexel University College of Medicine.
“Being accepted into ELAM is a tremendous honor,” Dr. Gundry said. “I’m excited for the opportunity to learn and grow alongside a cohort of exceptional leaders. This recognition, along with the unwavering support I’ve received at UNMC, affirms not only the path I’ve traveled but also the leader I’m striving to become. It’s a powerful motivator to keep challenging myself and reaching for more.”
Dr. Gundry also directs the UNMC Center for Heart and Vascular Research and is the principal investigator on the center’s $11.8 million Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) grant from the National Institutes of Health. She is also the scientific director of the UNMC Multiomics Mass Spectrometry Core Facility.
ELAM is the only longitudinal program in North America dedicated to preparing women for senior leadership roles in schools of medicine, dentistry, public health and pharmacy. The program is dedicated to developing the professional and personal skills required to lead and manage in today’s complex health care environment.
“Dr. Gundry already has shown her colleagues at UNMC that she is a committed and effective leader,” said Bradley Britigan, MD, dean of the UNMC College of Medicine. “This prestigious fellowship will help her hone these leadership skills, which ultimately will benefit not only this institution, but the people we serve in Nebraska and beyond.”
The program has been developed for senior women faculty at the associate or full professor level who demonstrate the greatest potential for assuming executive leadership positions at academic health centers within the next five years.
“We are excited to welcome 100 ELAM fellows and 50 ELH fellows to the class of 2025-26. This cohort comprises exceptional leaders from 118 institutions who are capable of making critical systemic change. The need for the highest quality leaders in academic health care has never been greater, and we are doing everything we can to help meet that need by providing outstanding and innovative leadership training,” said Nancy Spector, MD, executive director of ELAM.
The work for this incoming class begins in June with online assignments and community-building activities. The fellowship concludes with the capstone event, the Leaders Forum, and then graduation in April 2026. The Leaders Forum brings together the fellows and their deans, CEOs and other senior officials, and features a symposium highlighting the fellows’ Institutional Action Projects.